Street letter-box.



No. 666,472. vaunted 1an. 22, |901.

' A. M. cusnma.

STREET LETTER Box.

' (Application led Jan. 24. 1900.; (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

No. 666,472. Patented 1an. 22, |961. A. M. cusHma.

STREET LETTER BOX.

(Application led Jan. 24. 1900.',

(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

'mz Npnms PETERS co. mm-mma., wAsmNoroN. o. cA

Uwifrrzn Sterns Prion@ ALVIN M. CUSHING, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

STREET LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 666,472, dated January 22, 1901.

Application filed January 24,1900. Serial No. 2,5 71. (No model.)

To (//ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALVIN M. CUsHING, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residingat Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Street Letter-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to street letter-boxes, the object being to provide a box of this description containingimproved devices for preventing the unlawful extraction of letters or other mail-matter therefrom and for manipulating the cover of the box for inserting mailmatter by the use of one hand only when necessary; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of said devices whereby said objects are attained, all as hereinafter fully described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view, in vertical section, of the case of a street letter-box, illustrating therein devices for opening, closing, and for safely guarding the contents of the box, constructed according to my invention, the relative positions of the parts when thelid of the box is opened being there shown. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line x fr, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, but showing the positions of the said parts when the lid of the box is closed.

Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates the case of the letter-box, which may be of any preferred form.

The opening through one side of the box for the reception of letters is indicated by h, and a lid 3 is hung on a shaft l to swing on the outside of the box and cover said opening. Two arms 6 6 are connected by one end to the under side of the lid 3 and extending through said opening h support on their inner ends a letter-guarding metallic plate 5, which when said lid or cover 3 is opened swings under the lower edge of a letter-guard l0, having a toothed or serrated lower border, as shown in Figs. l and 2, and in said position said guards 5 and l0 present insuperable obstacles to the abstraction of any mailmatter contained in the part of the letter-box below said guards by an instrument inserted' through said opening 71,.

To enable a person having but one disengaged hand to open the lid and insert mail, as is often the case when an umbrella or other object is held by the other hand, means are provided for opening and retaining the lid in such position while said mail-matter shall be inserted in the box as follows: A shaft 7, extending across the interior of the letter-box opposite the opening h, carries thereon the two-armed lever c, the lower arm of which engages the inner side of the lid 3, as in Figs. l and 2, to raise it, and the second or upper arm has a stop engagement with the inside of the case 2 when the said lid drops down, as shown in Fig. 3. An arm a is fixed on said shaft 7 near one end, to which a finger-lever l) is pivoted, which extends through a slot. d in the front wall of the box near one end of the lid 3, said lever having a tooth t' on its under edge for engagement with the lower end of said slot when pushed inward, as shown in Figs. l and 2, and when so pushed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, said lever c on the shaft 7 holds the lid 3 open for the insertion of letters, but the act of said insertion results in freeing the parts holding said lid open, so that when the hand is withdrawn from under said lid the latter will close.

The dotted lines in Fig. 2 show how a letter pushed against the fingers e rocks the shaft 8 and through the projection 9 thereon raises the lever b away from engagement with the case 2, thus allowing the lid to fall and the parts to reassume the positions shown in Fig. 3 and reclosing said lid.

A suitable door B, Fig. 1, is provided in one wall of the case of the box for removing accumulated mail-matter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a letter-box, a lid swinging on the outer side thereof to open and close the aperture through which mail-matter is introduced, mechanism for opening said lid and for temporarily engaging and holding the same in that position for putting matter into the box, and means actuated by the impact of matter passed through said aperture for disengaging said lid-retaining mechanism, and permitting the lid to close, substantially as described.

IOO

2. In a letter-box, a lid swinging on the and temporarily engaging the same pivotally Io outer side thereof to open and close the ap- Connected to an arm on said Shaft, whereby ertnre through which mail-matter is intro` bythe endwise movement of said finger-lever duced, mechanism for opening said lid and said shaft is rocked and the lid is opened or 5 for temporarily holding the same in that poallowed to elose, substantially as described. sition, comprising a shaft extending within ALVIN M. CUSHING. the box opposite said lid having a lever ixed l Witnessesz thereon for engaging the same, and a finger- K. I. CLEMONS.

lever projecting through the Wall of the box l WM. H. CHAPIN. 

